Search results for "STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE"
showing 10 items of 224 documents
Plasma catecholamine responses and neural adaptation during short-term resistance training
2000
Low exercise-induced plasma adrenaline (A) responses have been reported in resistance-trained indi- viduals. In the study reported here, we investigated the interaction between strength gain and neural adaptation of the muscles, and the plasma A response in eight healthy men during a short-term resistance-training period. The subjects performed 5 resistance exercises (E1-E5), consisting of 6 sets of 12 bilateral leg exten- sions performed at a 50% load, and with 2 days rest in between. Average electromyographic (EMG) signal amplitude was recorded before and after the exercises, from the knee extensor muscles in isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) as well as during the exercises (a…
Preoperative endoscopic pyloric balloon dilatation decreases the rate of delayed gastric emptying after Ivor–Lewis esophagectomy
2018
Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) after Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy occurs postoperatively in up to 50% of the patients. This pyloric dysfunction can lead to severe secondary complications postoperatively such as early aspiration, pneumonia or may even have an impact on anastomotic healing and therefore leakage. Early detection of DGE is essential to prevent further complications. The common treatment postoperatively is endoscopic pyloric balloon dilatation (EPBD) after symptoms already occurred. In our work, we analyzed patients who received a preoperative EPBD during the routine restaging endoscopy and compared those patients to a control group to analyze if preoperative EPBD may prevent postop…
"Readiness to Change" Predicts Efficacy of Reduction among Smokers with Severe Mental Illness.
2018
<b><i>Aims:</i></b> Smoking cessation in subjects with a severe mental illness (SMI) is a challenging but attainable goal. Furthermore, the identification of variables involved in the quitting process is a highly relevant factor in clinical practice. This study aimed to analyze the influence of smokers’ motivation in smoking reduction and cessation and select the most suitable way of measuring motivation. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This is a secondary analysis of a 9-month, multicenter trial examining a Multicomponent Smoking Cessation Program in 82 adult outpatients with SMI. At the end of the preparation stage, the smokers’ motivational level wa…
Reliability of the bright liver echo pattern in diagnosing steatosis in patients with cryptogenic and HCV-related hypertransaminasaemia.
2008
Aim To evaluate the reliability of the bright liver (BL) echo pattern on ultrasound to detect histological steatosis in chronic cryptogenic hypertransaminasaemia (CCH) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related forms of hypertransaminasaemia. Materials and methods One hundred and fifty patients, 54 with CCH and 96 with HCV hypertransaminasaemia (76 genotype 1/2 and 20 genotype 3), were enrolled. Histological steatosis was measured as the percentage of hepatocytes involved. The reliability of the BL sign was estimated using the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Results Histological steatosis was present in 102/150 patients (68%) divided into 59/96 (62%) in the HCV g…
Implementation of augmented reality in operative dentistry learning.
2017
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of augmented reality (AR) in the gaining of knowledge and skills amongst dental students in the design of cavity preparations and analyse their degree of satisfaction. Material and methods AR cavity models were prepared for use with computers and mobile devices. Forty-one students were divided into two groups (traditional teaching methods vs AR). Questionnaires were designed to evaluate knowledge and skills, with the administration of a satisfaction questionnaire for those using AR. The degree of compliance with the standards in cavity design was assessed. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare knowledge and skills between the two groups, and the Wilc…
Oral cancer associated with chronic mechanical irritation of the oral mucosa
2017
Background Most of the studies dealing with Chronic Mechanical Irritation (CMI) and Oral Cancer (OC) only considered prosthetic and dental variables separately, and CMI functional factors are not registered. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess OC risk in individuals with dental, prosthetic and functional CMI. Also, we examined CMI presence in relation to tumor size. Material and Methods A case-control study was carried out from 2009 to 2013. Study group were squamous cell carcinoma cases; control group was patients seeking dental treatment in the same institution. Results 153 patients were studied (Study group n=53, Control group n=100). CMI reproducibility displayed a correlation coe…
Image-guided transcranial Doppler sonography for monitoring of vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
2016
Transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) is a standard method for bedside vasospasm monitoring after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Image guidance has previously been shown to reduce intra- and interobserver variability of this method. The aim of the present study was to compare image-guided and conventional TCD in vasospasm monitoring after SAH.418 TCD exams of 24 consecutive SAH patients registered in a database were evaluated. Of these, 130 image-guided exams were identified which had been performed on the same day as conventional Doppler exams. These matched pairs were taken for statistical analysis. Data were tested statistically using the sign test applied at patient level to aggregated …
Alpha lipoic acid efficacy in burning mouth syndrome: a controlled clinical trial
2014
Background A double-blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and determine the statistical significance of the outcome variables. Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is defined as an oral burning sensation in the absence of clinical signs which could justify the syndrome. Recent studies suggest the existence of neurological factors as a possible cause of the disease. Material and Methods 60 patients with BMS, in two groups: case group with 600 mg/day and placebo as control group; with follow up of 2 months. Results 64% of ALA patients reported some level of improvement, with a level of maintenance of 68.75% one month after treatment.…
Whole-body MRI in patients with lymphoma: collateral findings.
2016
To assess the incidence of collateral findings detected on whole-body magnetic resonance (WB-MRI) scans performed on patients with lymphoma. 114 patients (65 male; median age 45.2 years, range 15–86) with histologically confirmed lymphoma (47 Hodgkin, 67 Non-Hodgkin) underwent WB-MRI. The collateral findings were classified into three classes, according to their clinical significance, as follows: not or low significant (class 1), moderately or potentially significant (class 2), and significant (class 3). A Chi-square (χ 2) test was performed to assess the statistical significance of differences in the incidence of collateral findings based on age (≤50 and >50 years old), gender and histolog…
Relationships between mild hyperuricaemia and aortic stiffness in untreated hypertensive patients.
2013
Background and aims: Clinical studies exploring the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and arterial stiffness yielded conflicting results. Only in a few of these studies, arterial distensibility was examined by measuring aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), which is considered the gold standard for evaluating arterial stiffness. In none of the previous investigations was the influence of SUA on aortic distensibility assessed, taking into account the effect of albuminuria. The purpose of our study was to comprehensively analyse the relationships between SUA and aortic PWV in a group of essential hypertensive patients. Methods and results: We enrolled 222 untreated and uncomplicated hype…